Armour Love
by chocoholicannanymous
Summary: Moving on with your life can be hard. But, like the Beatles said, you get by with a little help from your friends.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except an overactive imagination and way too many plotbunnies.

AN: For the anon who wanted number 28 and Kelliott for this prompt. It...turned into something maybe a little different than they'd imagined, but eh. That's how my brain works, which all of you should know by now.

Tittle from the LaRoux song, which both fits and not.

 **Armour Love**

Being a student at NYADA is many things. Challenging, exhausting, amazing... One thing it rarely is though is pleasurable. Six days out of the seven Kurt questions his sanity for choosing this.

Oh, he's going to hang in there, not just because he's learning so much and evolving more than he ever thought possible, but because Hummels aren't quitters.

Just... Today he wishes he was. Just a little.

He has a presentation today, and chances are he'll fail. Or **be** **failed** , to be correct. He's going to have to perform at a level at least three steps above what's expected of anyone else, or be given an automatic fail. It's fucking high school again.

Except, you know, this time it's not because he's gay. (Kurt's having a hard time feeling like it's an improvement. Harassment is harassment, regardless of why.)

This time it's because for some reason it has apparently been decided that Kurt's liable for the actions of all of NYADA's Lima students. Meaning he gets to pay for Rachel and Blaine dropping out.

It's just...aaaarrrrrrgggghhhhhhh. The surprising part about Rachel dropping out after being handed both Fanny and well-deserved critique is that it's **not** surprising. It should be, after the way Rachel acted after receiving her initial rejection letter, and her subsequent frenzy to secure her admission. But, by now Kurt's gotten to know Rachel well enough – and achieved enough of a balance between wanting to please and being honest – to realize that while Rachel does want it all, she doesn't really want to have to work for it.

Madame Tibideaux had demanded that Rachel give NYADA her all, her "blood, sweat and tears", and Rachel had taken that just as well as she usually did any suggestion that some things come as a result of hard work, not just as due accolades – that is, not at all.

Blaine following her example had been more of a surprise, but then again not. And in all honesty, it had been nowhere near as surprising as Blaine applying to NYADA in the first place. Maybe, Kurt thinks, he'd have done the same had it been **him** that June Dolloway had offered a recording contract.

Or maybe not, given how Kurt's used to fighting for everything instead of just having it handed over on a silver platter, complete with bows and glitter, and how he's only gotten better for that fighting.

Either way, Rachel and Blaine are both gone from NYADA, and Kurt's somehow been left to shoulder the blame for that.

Like he could have stopped either one of them. (And yes, he tried. Repeatedly. That's why Rachel's no longer speaking to him, and it might be why Blaine– yeah, no. He tried. Okay?)

And it's just not students either, giving him flak. Oh no. Because that, that Kurt knows how to deal with. No, instead it's students, a few of the teachers, the staff manning his favorite on-campus coffee cart, Carmen Tibideaux – though she at least restricts it to looks – and close to a dozen TA's.

Again, Kurt can take most of that – thank you, William McKinley High – but there are, as always, exceptions. In this case said exception comes in the form of Peter Morris, who's in charge of Kurt's speech class. The man had never really warmed up to Kurt, for some reason, but he'd gotten downright chilly after Rachel had dropped out, and full-on Arctic after Blaine had left.

Every class is a visual example of "if looks could kill", and it's obvious enough that Kurt's been fielding questions from his classmates for weeks now.

(Four and a half weeks since Blaine dropped out. Two weeks, six days since Kurt packed up Blaine's stuff, broke off the engagement, and found himself living alone for the first time ever. Oh, and two weeks, six and a half days since Kurt dropped in on Blaine in the studio, finding him on his knees in front of the producer, the two of them giving June a "special performance".)

And that hateful troll is the man in charge of grading Kurt's presentation in less than three hours.

Yeah. That's a pretty good reason for why Kurt's currently breathing into a paper bag while Elliott's hand makes large soothing circles over his back.

O-o-o-O

"It's going to be fine. You **know** this. You're going to blow them away, just like you always do."

He loves Elliott, he does, just...not his optimism. It's unnatural, is what it is, and on top of that, it's completely unwarranted right now. He's not going to get graded on his understanding of the material, or how well he does. His grade is going to be based on the fact that his teacher apparently had a soft spot for Kurt's ex-fiancé, who had dropped out, and he's going to end up with a failing grade.

A failing grade that'll cost him a scholarship, at the very least.

Why can't Elliott get that?

"NYADA's supposed to be among the best schools in this city, meaning in this country, and their faculty is meant to be professionals. Am I not supposed to believe that means you'll get graded fairly?"

"It should mean that, yes. But Elliott... Life isn't always fair. And for some of us, well, 'not always' kinda means 'rarely'. Some people get treated the way they deserve – or for that matter, better than they do – and, and then some of us get treated worse to keep the balance.

"It's like jocks and geeks all over again. Fucking high school flashback," Kurt mutters with bitterness coating every word.

Elliott doesn't say anything, just keeps rubbing soft circles, which Kurt knows means the argument's been won, and so he goes back to focusing on trying to calm his breathing.

"Okay, then you **make** **him** treat you fairly." Or apparently it just meant Elliott was gathering himself for round two. Kurt snorts. Make a teacher – or anyone, really – treat him fairly? Yeah right.

"No. I get the feeling that it's your previous bad experiences talking here, but Kurt? You're not supposed to take abuse. Regardless of what shape it takes, or who's doling it out. You're **not**.

"There are rules regarding occasions such as this. Laws too. So, you do what you're supposed to do in a case like this – you fight it. You go talk to the dean, or another faculty member, and you make them back you up. Worst case scenario, they refuse to listen? You film your presentation, and his comments, and you use that. Hell, I'll go with you to do it if you need.

"What you don't do is let this asshole walk all over you. Remember that spine you just re-discovered? Use it."

Kurt wants to protest, he does, because dammit, Elliott's making him sound like a doormat. Only he doesn't really have a leg to stand on, does he? Because as much as it hurts, Kurt knows that Elliott's right about how he's supposed to fight for himself, just as he is about the fact that Kurt's not.

Sure, he's been telling himself he is fighting, but he's not really. What he's doing is refusing to let his bullies see that they're getting to him, not making sure they stop, and it's going just about as well this time as it did the last time.

So he stays quiet, and he thinks. Madame Tibideaux is...out, he thinks. She might back him up, or she might blow him off. Or worse, she'll take Morris's side. There isn't really any of the faculty Kurt truly trusts to have his side, but out of all of them? He thinks Cassandra July might be his best bet. Sure, Miss July had been Rachel-whammied for a while there, but on the whole she's been a fair teacher.

So he'll ask her, and if she doesn't help he'll take Elliott up on his offer. Worst case scenario he'll lose his scholarship but be able to keep his head high. Because it's not his fault that Rachel and Blaine are...well, **Rachel and Blaine**. And he's done being punished for their actions.

"You're an amazing friend, Elliott. You know that, right? I don't know anyone else in my life right now who'd do what you just did for me. Not who's here." (His dad would. Carole too, probably. Finn, back when, and Adam, also back when. And that's it. Five names, over a lifetime, and only three left.)

Elliott blushes, and looks down, all bashful. Kurt smiles, and waits for him to look up again. Once he does Kurt opens his arms, making the gesture a plea and an invitation at once.

"Care to give me a good luck hug? I know I could use one."

Elliott gives great hugs, warm and strong and open, and the kind that never makes Kurt wish for another pair of arms. They're strengthening and heartwarming, and they'll add perfectly to his fashion armor.

Only this time something's off. The hug is great, yes, but there's something about it – something reserved almost. It's as if Elliott's holding himself back. Kurt meets his eyes, checking up on his friend, worried. And then... It's like he can see the silent "fuck it" crossing Elliott's mind.

And then he's being kissed.

It's like Elliott's trying to tell him a library's worth of stories, and ask a lifetime's worth of question, and answer half of them himself, all by saying nothing.

His mouth speaks plenty anyway.

It's familiar, yet deliciously new. Not just the way Elliott tastes (curry, jasmine tea, and mint) but the way there's no fear, no dead bird, and no heartache tainting the experience.

When they separate Kurt's flushed, and his lips sting a little, and it's kind of obvious Elliott's the same. That doesn't mean Kurt doesn't have questions.

"Soooo?"

"Yeah, well... You looked like you needed an extra-special 'good luck'? You know, going into battle and everything."

Kurt laughs, giddy, and Elliott smiles. It's kind of perfect, in the way that's not.

"You're right. I **am** going into battle, and it might be really dangerous. Maybe you should wish me good luck a little more before I have to leave?"

(Kurt almost doesn't make it to school on time. He has to scramble to find an opportunity to talk to Miss July before his presentation. In the end it's all worth it. Elliott's good luck "wishes" work just well as his advice – perfectly.)

~The End ~


End file.
